Antrim Bay To Toome, Friday 23rd March 2007
Michele with Aidan, George and Kevin.
Another outing for the Bann adventurers (sadly minus Philip as he was away working hard in Spain!) began at the Antrim Boat club next to the mouth of the Six Mile Water in Antrim Bay, Lough Neagh.
Kevin and I are members of the club so we launched from the beach there, however there is a public slip and jetty on the opposite bank of the river to the boat club so this would be an ideal place to set off from.
The wind was very light and from the east, which was ideal for us.
As Lough Neagh is pretty shallow it can get very lively in certain conditions, and in particular Antrim Bay can be very choppy in south and westerly winds.
This part of the lough is probably not as well known as the southern end, near Oxford Island, however it's well worth a visit, as there's a lot to see here.
Not far off shore is the remains of a World War Two torpedo testing platform. a large concrete platform which is now designated as a bird sanctuary.
With so many birds now living on there, a paddle around it can be interesting if a bit smelly at times!
The next port of call was Shane's Castle, on the north end of the bay.
In ruins since the fire of 1816 this is sadly no longer open to the public, however we did stop for a brief and probably highly illegal explore!
Back in the boats we headed round the north shore to have lunch at Cranfield Bay.
Four miles from the Six Mile Water, Cranfield is an ideal place to stop. with a slip, jetty, and public toilets!
There is a small ruined church here and a holy well which is fabled for it's healing properties.
However we chose the healing properties of food and a rest in the sun, which by now was very warm.
When we started paddling again the wind seemed to drop away completely, giving the water a glassy appearance.
Pressing on another three miles took us to the top of the bay, and a long series of shallow islands and rocks just beneath the surface of the water which caught some of us out!
With the lack of wind paddling was quite hot work, so after rounding the corner towards Toome we paused for further refreshments before heading to the entrance to Toome Lock.
As I had not contacted the Lock Keeper a short portage around the lock was necessary before we ended another great day's paddling at the slip in Toome.
The whole trip is roughly 12 miles and was a very enjoyable nice easy paddle.However as I've said Lough Neagh is not always this calm!... So if you fancy this paddle check the wind direction before you head off!
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